One of your Biggest Financial Worries: Health Care Costs are a Big Concern for Many of Us

A Gallup poll from 2016 revealed that healthcare costs are the biggest financial worry for families in the United States. A huge 15 percent of families said that healthcare was the biggest concern for them financially.

That is understandable. Rising healthcare costs are causing problems for families across the country, and medical bills that come out of nowhere can be a huge shock. And all of this can happen along with the stress caused by the illness itself, which can cause a lot of uncertainty.

Here are some practical tips to help you cope if you are worried about your health care costs and you want to do something to take the pressure off your situation.

Make Savings Where You Can

The first thing you will want to do if you are worried about rising healthcare costs is to take a close look at your household budget. If you have not got a budget, now is the right time to create one.

Your budget should list all of your monthly and annual expenses. For example, it should list your regular monthly bills along with one-off expenses like vacations and other special events throughout the year.

Once you have a budget, this will provide you with a clear idea of where you are spending your money. You will quickly see whether you are spending more than you are earning and if so then it is time to make some changes.

Compare and Switch Suppliers

Start by comparing all of your service providers including gas, electricity, home insurance, cable, your cell phone, and more. While these are all essential expenses, you may well be able to get cheaper deals from other providers without giving them up entirely.

If you save even a small amount on all of your monthly bills, this can add up to make significant savings to your overall budget.

Once you have done this, look again at your budget to find out whether you are now on track with your expenses or whether you need to save in other ways. You might need to cut out some regular monthly expenses that are not essential, which will free up some further funds to pay for rises in your medical bills.

You will also now be in a good situation to predict how much your bills might rise over the coming months. This can help you prepare better for rising costs later in the year. There are lots of ways to save money, but this is one of the easiest.

Even with a detailed budget in place, there may be moments when you cannot quite cover an unexpected expense. In these situations, you might want to consider taking out a small loan to cover the expense.

Loans can be used for such situations, and there are many products available that can help you (for example, you can learn about King of Kash here).

Just make sure that you can afford to pay back the loan when it is due. If you can afford it, a loan can help you to pay for an unexpected but essential expense, so it can be useful.

Get Help from Others

If you or someone in your family has a health condition and your medical costs are increasing, this could be a good opportunity to ask for help.

Do you have any family members or friends nearby who might be able to help you out? This does not always mean financial help. It could be that a friend can look after your kids for one afternoon each week so that you can carry out important jobs that you don’t have time to do.

Find Ways to Earn More

Another option is to find an extra source of money from somewhere. For example, if you can’t get any more hours at your existing job, consider doing some part-time work on the side, perhaps some freelance work from home.

Or maybe you could sell some old things on eBay or even start up a micro-business on the side to bring in some extra money to pay for medical bills.

Look at all your options because you may find that you can bring in the extra money you need without having to put in too much extra work.

Take Back Control

People feel stressed when they feel like they do not have control over a situation. If your medical bills are going up, or they are likely to do so, there is not a lot you can do about that. But you can control other areas of your life to make it easier to absorb the effects of higher medical bills.

Take stock of your situation and go over these tips and see if you can start putting them to use. Then don’t let medical expenses be a cause of stress in your life. Instead, change your lifestyle and your spending habits so that you can live your life without constantly worrying about medical expenses.

Danielle Hunter is a Mom who shares her own stories online in order to help others learn from similar experiences that she has had. Mostly appearing on women’s lifestyle blogs, Danielle writes a lot about money matters.